Peace Crew in the News!

We are very proud of our Peace Crew students at IPS Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School who were featured in a news segment on RTV6 ABC News on Friday, 10/3 at 6 pm!

What is Peace Crew?

Peace Crew is an innovative Indianapolis-based program designed to increase leadership, volunteerism, positive school and community connections, social emotional learning skills, and academic investment by empowering high school students to be peace education mentors to younger students.

It does this by incorporating conflict resolution and diversity education with service-learning by bringing secondary students into the classrooms of their younger peers to serve as facilitators.

The program maximizes the impact of PLC’s interactive and experiential program model by utilizing schools most important and often over-looked resources – students – to teach and model peace education lessons.

PLC staff works closely with schools to identify students who have the capacity and interest to become school leaders even if they are not academically talented students. Our goal is to provide a positive service opportunity for students who might normally be overlooked as potential leaders.

2014-2015 Peace Crew Program Outcome Objectives:

After participating in the semester-long program, at least 85%, or 85, of the 100 Peace Crew members (secondary students) will:

– Demonstrate an increase in their ability to resolve conflicts without violence;

Report an increase in their positive peer relationship skills (to include anti-bullying skills);

Demonstrate an increase in their responsible decision-making skills;

And, report via a survey an improvement in their connections to their school and community.

After participating in the three week program, at least 75%, or 3,000, of the 4,000 participating elementary students will:
– Demonstrate an increase in their ability to resolve conflicts without violence.
– Report an increase in their positive peer relationship skills (to include anti-bullying).
– Demonstrate an increase in their responsible decision-making skills.

95% of the 100 Peace Crew students will graduate from high school after participating in the program for at least one year.

The 2014-2015 Peace Crew program is supported by the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis, AT&T Foundation, and through a contract with Indianapolis Public Schools.

The Pilot Peace Crew

The first Peace Crew program began during the 2012-2013 school year at Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School.

20 students participated and made a significant impact by teaching three week lessons at five elementary schools to more than 800 elementary students.

The program was extremely beneficial for the elementary school students as well as the high school students who taught them. One of the Peace Crew facilitators shared that by teaching younger students about the negative impacts of bullying, she realized she needed to change her own behavior – she said, “I want to be the kind of person I’m trying to teach the kids to be.”

Another Peace Crew facilitator explained how the program helped her gain a sense of self-worth because she finally felt like she mattered to other people.

Rhonda Claire, the high school social worker who oversees the program, told us the school administrators now look to the Peace Crew members for advice about how to resolve student disputes.

Current Peace Crew Program Sites

The Peace Crew program is modified based on scheduling needs at each school where it is implemented which means its structure may look different, but the underlying program model is the same – older peers facilitate peace education lessons to their younger peers.

– IPS Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School

– IPS Northwest Community High School

– IPS John Marshall High School

Our elementary school partners are still being finalized, but we have confirmed plans to serve several schools in some of our city’s most violent neighborhoods. These schools include IPS #15, #93, and #69.